Spread over the next five years, the funding will establish a new Abusive Phoenixism Taskforce. This specialised unit will be staffed by 50 investigators dedicated to identifying suspicious insolvencies. Their primary focus will be directors who deliberately liquidate or dissolve companies to evade tax and write off debts, a practice known as “phoenixism”, while retaining assets that are not rightfully theirs.

The service’s director of investigation and enforcement services, Dave Magrath, said:  “This is welcome funding which will help the Insolvency Service tackle rogue directors who abuse the insolvency regime to get out of repaying their debts and keep assets which are not theirs.

“It will allow us to disqualify more directors who are not fulfilling their roles responsibly, which will help us to support legitimate businesses and protect consumers.”

This initiative is part of a broader government crackdown on marketplace crime, which includes stricter checks in the gig economy and action against the sale of counterfeit goods.

The funding reinforces the agency’s new five-year enforcement strategy, launched in July 2025, which seeks to cement its position as the UK’s leading authority on corporate standards. It builds upon a strong performance in 2024–25, during which the Service secured 77 criminal convictions and over 1,000 director disqualifications.